'Obamacare' foes fear GOP losses

If Mitt Romney doesn’t win the White House in November, and the Republicans don’t win the Senate, the GOP might not get another chance to repeal “Obamacare.”

That’s the reality of the 2012 election, and even the staunchest opponents of the Democrats’ health care reform law acknowledge it. By the time the 2014 election comes up, all of the law’s major changes will be in place. So if the Republicans don’t win control of the White House and Congress to repeal it before then, the goal of wiping away the law will probably be out of their reach.

That’s why Romney’s latest struggles have a special significance for the repeal effort. If he can’t hit the reset button after his “47 percent” comments and his other campaign stumbles, there won’t be a president next year who would be willing to sign a repeal bill.

And if the Republicans don’t start doing better in the Senate races — where the Democratic candidates in the most critical races have been gaining ground — they won’t even have the power to get a repeal bill to the president’s desk.

So the most vocal advocates of repeal are hoping they don’t lose their last chance. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who says he ran for office because of his opposition to the health law, said the current state of the 2012 race “certainly tells me how crucial this election is.”

“This is really our last chance of stopping this and I think we really need to run the table,” Johnson said, “or this health care law, I fear, will be implemented. The history is once an entitlement is implemented it’s extremely difficult to turn back the clock.”

The vast majority of the health care law is due to go into effect in 2014. While much of the work to implement the plan has been under way since 2010, next year is when the big decisions will be made and the big checks will be written. After the health insurance exchanges are set up, the tax subsidies roll out and even the unpopular individual mandate is in place, it’s going to be extremely hard to repeal the law.

“I would think that it’s a foregone conclusion that if Obama is reelected, we're stuck with Obamacare whether we like it or not,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), repeating a sentiment that’s common among Republicans on Capitol Hill and in activist groups.

They’re quick to add that they’ll never stop fighting against the law. But the reality is that after unsuccessful attempts to stop the law in the Supreme Court, and without full majorities on Capitol Hill to pass a repeal bill before now, they won’t get another shot at a full repeal if there’s no Republican sweep in November.